The 12 jurors now have the fate of Elizabeth Holmes, the founder of Theranos, who, according to her lawyers, believed she would change the world, but is now threatened with up to 20 years in prison for fraud.
Theranos trial lasted three months, during which 31 witnesses testified. Yesterday, the judge ordered the jurors to decide the fate of the 37-year-old.
Elizabeth Holmes founded the diagnostic test company Theranos in 2003 and dropped out of Stanford to develop a technology that she claimed could perform a series of tests easily and cheaply, with a drop of blood. When it turned out that the technology was not working, but Theranos had deceived both its investors and its patients, Holmes was faced with nine counts of fraud and two counts of conspiracy to commit fraud. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison. She has pleaded not guilty.
Her lawyer, Kevin Downey, made his last statement on Friday, saying Holmes should be acquitted of all charges.
“At the first sign of trouble, the scammer takes the money and leaves, the criminals hide and the mice leave the sinking ship. “She did not do any of these,” he said.
According to the lawyer, Holmes dedicated her life to Theranos and never intended to deceive investors. She dropped out of college, sacrificed her youth and lost friendships because she “believed she was building a technology that would change the world,” he said.
He added that Holmes’s wealth was inextricably linked to Theranos’ success, as the founder never sold her shares.
“It sank with the ship. “Ladies and gentlemen, she is such a woman,” Downey said.
For three hours, the lawyer tried to refute the prosecution’s arguments. Holmes did not deliberately distort the company’s finances to attract investors, he claimed.
Within a decade, Theranos had raised 945 million euros from investors, most of whom are big personalities, such as Rupert Murdoch. Some of them testified at trial as prosecution witnesses.
“People lost money. I do not mince my words about it. Ms. Holmes certainly did not intend for people to lose money. “This is a bad event and a failure on her part,” said her lawyer.
He added that these were experienced investors who “knew it was a new venture, they knew it was profitable and they knew there was a risk,” Downey said.
For his part, Assistant Prosecutor John Bostik stressed that the problem with Theranos was not “a lack of effort, but a lack of honesty.”
Theranos should not be considered a business that failed despite hard work, he said. “We admire people who set ambitious goals and start to achieve them. “This case went wrong for Theranos and Ms. Holmes when she made the other decision, when she refused to accept failure and turned to illegality.”
To find Holmes guilty, jurors must decide unanimously, beyond all reasonable doubt, that the businesswoman, once considered the youngest self-made billionaire, intended to deceive investors and patients.
moneyreview
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